In our weekly Mindful Dreams column, Aneta Baranek of the School of Metaphysics is offering free dream interpretations to The Mindful Word readers, as well as articles on dreams in general.

If you’ve ever been curious about deciphering the cryptic contents of your subconscious mind, here’s your chance! If you would like Aneta to interpret your dream, fill out this form. She will respond with your dream interpretation through this column, published every Thursday. Aneta would love to receive more comments for the dreams interpreted. If you can relate to a dream posted here or have any insights to add, you can post them as comments to the interpretation, or email her at aneta@themindfulword.org.

Intro

DREAM

Hi Aneta,

I had a dream once in which I was in a broken-down grey brick building on a battlefield in the middle of war. I was in rags and my father, who has passed away, came onto the battlefield with great white wings, firing fireballs out of his hand. I don’t remember much else. Thank you.

– Maria

DREAM TITLE: “Conflict as a Stepping Stone to Expansion”

DREAMER: Female, 29, U.S.

MAIN SYMBOLS:

Brick building — state of mind of the dreamer

War — inner conflict

Rags — outer expression

Father — Superconscious aspect

Wings — freedom

Fireballs — tool for change

Hand — purpose

INTERPRETATION

Hello Maria,

I appreciate you sharing your dream.

Your dream reflects an inner conflict (war, battlefield). It speaks to your identity reflecting a sense of struggle as well (rags).

Your father symbolizes a Superconscious aspect, an aspect of the highest consciousness within you. The wings symbolize the possibility to fly, which expresses freedom. The fireballs are tools for change and expansion. The presence of hands reveals that your dream is aiming to draw your attention to the purpose behind the conflict and your next steps.

To summarize: in a state of conflict, you called upon a part of your Higher Self (symbolized by your father) and you saw the possibility of change (fireballs) and freedom.

APPLICATION

Dreams reflect our state of mind from a day or two prior to us having a dream. They reflect our perceptions. In other words, they don’t tell us what actually occurred, but what we perceived as occurring.

We each have our own individual filters through which we see the reality around us. Based on our prior experiences, we might be projecting our emotions onto the surrounding environment. Dreams help us adjust our thought patterns so we can have better experiences in our waking lives.

We all face conflicts from time to time as we progress through life. In your dream, in the midst of the conflict, you experienced the presence of an inner part of you that’s wiser (your father), one that offers tools for freedom and change/expansion. Since we don’t know the rest of the dream, we aren’t able to determine whether these tools were put to use or not.

What I think this dream highlights is that in every conflict, there’s an opportunity for us to grow and change. More specifically, there’s an opportunity for us to expand our perceptions in regard to the events we partake in. This is what the symbol of hands in your dream speaks to—the purpose behind a challenging situation.

If this were my dream, then the next time I were to face a conflict, I’d call upon those wiser parts of myself and trust that I have all that I need to emerge stronger from any challenging situation I encounter in my life.

While pursuing her Doctor of Divinity degree, Aneta continues her research and study of dreams. She also holds a Master’s degree from DePaul University in Computer Science. She has been serving as a spiritual teacher through the School of Metaphysics for the last six years. She currently resides in Kansas City, Missouri, where she directs one of the branches of the School of Metaphysics. Learn more about Aneta at onwholeness.com and the School of Metaphysics at som.org.